Georgian bank TBC sees shares rise after Peel Hunt confirm buy rating

Banking group TBC (LON:TBCG) saw shares rise nearly 5 percent on Monday, after seeing a 65 percent increase in net profit in the first quarter of 2017.

The Georgian bank, headquartered in Tbilisi, saw net profits boosted by 64.5 percent in the first three months of the year, a 9.7 percent increase on the previous quarter to 96.6 million Georgian lari.

Total operating income for the period rose by 40.2 percent year-on-year, which was a 6.8 percent decrease quarter-on-quarter to 203.5 million lari.

TBC Bank is the largest banking group in Georgia and became the country’s leading universal bank following the acquisition of Bank Republic in late 2016, accounting for 36.4 percent market share by total assets.

In a statement, the bank confirmed that the merger had been successfully completed well ahead of schedule, adding Bank Republic’s strong footprint in the retail segment to TBC’s business.

The bank’s total assets reached 10,362.6 million lari by the end of March 2017, up by 55.7 percent year on year.

Analysts from Peel Hunt confirmed their buy rating on the stock on Monday, setting a target price of GBX 2000.00 on TBC Bank Group Plc (LON:TBCG) shares. This is 21.32 percent from the close price.

Shares in TBC are currently trading up 4.37 percent at 1,673.00 (1522GMT).